A future untold

TNF

chapter 4: a rude awakening

beastboy felt confused at first...then realisation took him... robin is possibly one of the best detectives there was...and they knew he had done a little digging into there pasts, he had said he would only go back a few years or so... just to make sure there weren't any enemies to worry about...they had all, himself and raven reluctantly, agreed... now, robin had agreed to keep all his findings secret...but if he had found out about... oh god no! What if he knew!... robin always keeps his word, so he would have never mentioned it before...but in the state of mind he's in now...oh please let it just be something stupid or embarrassing...please just let it be just stupid or embarrassing!...

the other titans were looking between the two boys, robin with that malicious...and slightly unhinged look... and beastboy, who started of confused, then surprised, then extremely nervous...now he seemed to be silently begging robin not to say another word... unfortunately, robin wasn't listening...

"now...where to begin...how about just after your parents died..."

"don't.." whispered beastboy...his breathing laboured, and sweat forming on his brow as he slowly shook his head... "please don't"

"what...don't you want your new team to know who you really are 'changeling'?"

the other three teens looked confused at this... and couldn't help but be curious...

"you know...i was very surprised when I first found out..." began robin, he was gloating now...that was obvious... "i even thought of re-evaluating the evidence and sending you back to the cell's"

there was a collective gasp at this... beastboy...cells...he can't mean...?

"oh yes my dear friends..." laughed robin...looking over to the awestruck teens... "little baby beastboy isn't as innocent as it seems...i found a few...'unsolved case files' with his name, literally, written all over it..."

the titans took this change to look at beast boy... who had gone extraordinarily pale...

"please robin" he whispered whilst looking the possibly insane robin in the...well, mask... "please don't do this..."

"do what! Im only mentioning the facts...what they..." he indicated to the rest of the titans "want to do with the information, is up to them!... of course... I did re-evaluate the evidence from the case with some newer technology...i must admit...if the police saw all the new evidence I have uncovered from those files... along with the fact your no longer an minor...well...i'd say you could get...at least life, with good behaviour..."

the other titans shock grew with this statement... life! They realised it must have been something bad...but life!, what could beastboy have done to deserve that!

"look, robin... it was a long time ago... I was just a kid! You don't know all the facts!"

"don't know the facts! I know that for two years you were on the fbi's most wanted list!, I know that you were practically in every newspaper this side of the Atlantic, and no one even knew what you looked like! I know you went by the name changeling...and that's the only clue they had on who you were... I know that the day they caught you was the day they found two guys 'mauled to death' in there house, with your dna all over the place...the only reason you got off was because 1. you were only 10! and 2. no one knew you could change form... so they had no believe that a 10 year old could have convinced a lion to kill two guys for him... now, what are these facts that I don't know hmmm?"

robin had somehow ended up standing and staring down at beast boy... who looked angry, but strangely collected at the same time...

the three remaining teens watched with the looks of fear, anger, and disbelieve on there faces... and star was the first to show it...

"i cannot believe you would say such lies about our friend! It was not his choice to be leader, and you should not be as cruel as to make up these story's to discredit our beastboy!"

"yeh man!... you almost had me going for a minuet there!, I cant believe you would sink so low!"

raven stayed completely silent join this whole ordeal and focused on watching beastboys reaction... she was startled at how calm he was as he stood up from his chair... but was more then a little disturbed at the anger hidden behind his eyes...

"guys..." he began but was drowned out be the shouting of his team mates...

"guys!" he shouted... they all turned to his in surprise...

"he's not lying..." he said in the same quiet tone he seemed to be using a lot lately...

"what!...common man, your not telling us...i mean, you cant mean...that you...you..."

"cy...he's not lying...about any of it..."

cyborg stood there with shock on his face and betrayal in his eyes... star began to cry silently her eyes never leaving beastboy... and raven...for those who didn't know her, would believe she was completely indifferent... but the shock...and hurt in her eyes, that only her friends could see was enough to make a grown man cry for her...

it was then beast boy did something non of them expected... he turned to robin with a look of pure hatred and unimaginable pain written on his face, in his body language and deep in his eyes...

"but...for such a great detective" he sneered with disgust evident in every cord..." you missed out several vital points to the case...After my parents died I had not home... and no one but myself to count on...it was then that a bunch of poachers from LA came to look for wild animals to sell on the black market... instead, they found me... kidnapped me using an electric net, and took me back with them to sell...i was found by two guys who promised they would save me if I worked for them...now, I didn't know much about life outside the jungle...hell, I couldn't even speak much english!...but even I knew agreeing to help them was a bad idea...problem was, the second I was relieved was the second I had a nice, new, shiny collar...which happened to electrocute me the second one of those guys pressed the little red button on there remote... so from that day on I was 'changeling'" said beast boy air quoting his other name...

"bloody media had a field day...yeh robin...ill admit it...it was good to know I was actually good at something... but for fuck sake do you really think I wanted to do it! The moment I tried anything to escape, I was electrocuted, hit, stabbed, even ra..." beastboy stopped suddenly...face red looking down with tears in his eyes... it was then that robins eyes went wide with realisation...he realised what beastboy was about to say, even if the other, confused, titans didn't...

"he...beast boy, did he...did they ra"

"leave it robin! I try to live my life with a 'what happened happened' philosophy..."

"but they raped you!" shouted robin, with both shock, and obvious self disgust in his eyes...

"what!" shouted cyborg, looking from one of the boys to the other, slowly realisation kicked in... and he stared at beast boy...

"friend...i...i..." there were a lot of things about earth culture she didn't know...but when you live a life of crime fighting...there are some things you cant avoid... she spared a glance at raven...who actually had tears in her eyes... and starfire felt she would not be far behind...

"don't..." beastboy said sternly... "don't you dare feel sorry for me...it happened... it was a long...long time ago...but I hope now you realise..." he looked strait at robin "i hope now you realise why I did what I did..."

"you did kill them...it was you...you did it to escape..." robin began, but was cut of by beastboy...

"but I didn't escape...robin...there's a lot that has happened in my life you don't know...a lot I don't want you...any of you to have as a burden...i admit iv done things i'm not proud of...iv stole...iv hurt...iv betrayed...and iv killed...but non of the guilt I felt for any of those things are even close to that of not being strong enough to tell my friends...so robin...are any of these facts what you were looking for...hmmm?" finished beastboy, he didn't wait for an answer as he turned and left... shouting as he went...

"training at 5:30 tonight... don't be late..." what happened happened...thought beast boy, as tears began to fall...

and that was how it came to be...he wasn't sure why he hadn't noticed it beforehand...he thought as he looked over the edge again...but it wouldn't have made much difference if he had... it was what happened after, that had began something that non of them had expected...he noticed a shadow walking down the street towards the ally below...as he said before...the titans...himself...they hadn't seen it coming...

it had been almost 3 months since beastboy had become leader of the titans...it had been hard at first...having to endure the looks of pity, worry and even a little fear...he knew what they were thinking...starfire had been brought up on a planet of war...she did not fear him for what he'd done...but the pity she showed whenever she had seen him for those first couple of weeks had been unbearable...luckily it seemed robin had, strangely warmed up to the idea of beastboy being leader, after he had gotten over the initial shock, he took it upon himself to pass on all the information he could to help beastboy do the job...for which he was grateful, and even seemed to have talked starfire out of her feeling sorry for beastboy...well, stopped her hugging him at every chance she got...and that was a good start.

Raven had taken it the best...she seemed to realise that beastboy just wanted to be treated the same way he always had...and her sarcastic insults and dry whit, soon became a highlight of his day...

lastly cyborg...who had been his best friend before...was more distant...not completely ignoring him but cy seemed almost, afraid of beastboy at first...he hid round corners when they got close...even going as far as to leave the room when beastboy entered...not that beast boy blamed him...cyborg had had the least experience with murder and death...robin, having been so close to batman and after his and beastboys little confrontation all those months ago...seemed to be ok with having a unconvicted killer under there roof...

starfire, as he said before, came from a planet of war, and raven...well with a father like hers, she finds it hard to judge one murder as bad...but cyborg had come around, be it slowly, and slightly insecurely (and most likely with a few strict talks from raven) him and beast boy had gotten back into there old habits...computer games and pizza...

yeh, thought beastboy as he stood up from where he lounged in the sun on the titans roof...i'm defiantly thinking a lot more then should be healthy... he smiled to himself as he watched the sun begin to settle on the horizon...yep...life is good...

'if only I had known...'